The Research Team of Prof. Wei Taiyun of College of Plant Protection of FAFU published their latest findings on the virus transmission assisted by insect symbiotic bacteria

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2017-03-20 信息员:

On March 6th, the virus and vector insect interaction research team of The State Key Laboratory of Ecological Pest Control for Fujian and Taiwan Crops of FAFU published online a research article titled “Insect symbiotic bacteria harbour viral pathogens for transovarial transmission” in the international renowned academic journal of《Nature Microbiology》.

The teacher Jia Dongsheng of College of Plant Protection is the first author, while Mao Qianzhuo and Chen Yong are the co-first authors of the paper; Prof Wei Taiyun of FAFU and Prof. Li Yi of PeKing University are the co-corresponding authors; FAFU is both the signature unit of the first author and the corresponding author of the paper. The research was funded by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, National Program on Key Basic Research Project (973 Program), National Natural Science Foundation of China(General Program) and Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars in FAFU.

The article reported that the rice dwarf virus (RDV，a plant reovirus)could directly bind to the envelopes of the bacterium Sulcia, a common obligate symbiont of leafhoppers, allowing the virus to exploit the ancient oocyte entry path of Sulciain rice leafhopper vectors. Such virus–bacterium binding is mediated by the specific interaction of the viral capsid protein and the Sulcia outer membrane protein. Treatment with antibiotics or antibodies against Sulcia outer membrane protein interferes with this interaction and strongly prevents viral transmission to insect offspring. This newly discovered virus–bacterium interaction represents the first evidence that a viral pathogen can directly exploit a symbiotic bacterium for its transmission. These results provide new insights into the mechanism of the virus transmission assisted by insect symbiotic bacteria.